A semi-packed gas chromatography column with high-density elliptic cylindrical posts.

• A semi-packed column with high-density elliptic cylindrical posts was developed. • The surface area of SC HECP is 71% larger than SC CP. • The aspect ratio of SC HECP is 76% larger than SC CP. • Higher surface area and aspect ratio leads to better performance. Semi-packed columns are microfabricated gas chromatography columns which have a large surface area and high aspect ratio. In this paper, a new semi-packed column with high-density elliptic cylindrical posts (SC HECP) made by a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technique was reported. Compared to a semi-packed column with cylindrical posts (SC CP) under the same effective width, the surface area and aspect ratio of SC HECP were improved by 71.19% and 76.47%, respectively. To compare the performance of these two semi-packed columns, SC HECP and SC CP were fabricated. A 10-nm thick alumina film was deposited as the stationary phase by atomic layer deposition technique to ensure the uniformity and repeatability of the stationary-phase film. A contrast experiment was conducted, and the results showed that compared with SC CP, better separation performance was realized in SC HECP due to the increase in surface area and aspect ratio. The number of theoretical plates of nonane was increased by 541.84%, and the tailing factor was decreased by 54.31%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]